Do you know the drinking game “I have never…” where you have to state something you’ve never done but that lots of other people in your drinking group have done so that they have to drink? I played this loads at uni, and one of my standard I-have-nevers was “I have never been on a rollercoaster in my life” and I always got a lot of people to drink and always curious reactions of disbelief that I had never been.

Reason why is because of my height. Having been on other funfair rides, I know that my height can cause issues, having almost fallen out of a few rides!! So my instinct says why seek out rollercoasters? I know they’re safe so it’s mot thst I think I’m gonna die. But being a 5ft shortarse, being flung about inside a too big a safety restrains at quite some speed and some G-force surely can lead to insuries amd pain. Why would I seek that out?

I might sound quite cool and rational about this, but I was terrified, nay petrified of rollercoasters.

Lodz went to Alton Towers with his colleagues a couple of weeks ago and when he came back he was beaming, adrenaline still running through his veins. He wanted to show me the rides went on (ALL OF THEM!) and like a good girlfriend I looked at things, trying to share his enthusiasm only to end up shaking with fear and near to tears.

But then Lodz and I had a massive fight a couple of weeks later – the kind of fight where you stop believing altogether that your partner loves you. Lodz didn’t believe me amymore that after 3.5 years I still love him (mind you, I did give him some reasons to believe this).

So to prove my love to him, I said I’d go on the rides at Alton Towers. And I did.

AND I FREAKING LOVED IT…

Of course it wasn’t that straight forward. The might before I chickened out and said I didn’t wanna go, only to change my mind again in the morning. But I kept making it clear that I needed to take it step by step. First go to the place, which wasn’t as straight forward. In fact, I was actually crying in fear on drive down there. When we got there, I was ok. Yes.

Next step, pay to get in. I wanted to make sure that the £45 admission wouldn’t go to waste (luckily we had BOGOF). But just before we went in, we worked out that we’d need about 2-3 rides each to make the money back and I was determined to make that happen at this point. I had seen little kids who go on these rides, and I had seen the kiddie rides too. If anything, I’ll do those haha.

We went to Air first – everyone I had spoken to, telling them it was my first rollercoaster trip ever, said that Air would be a good place to start. Not sure I can agree with this in hindsight, but it’s where we started.

It was the last school hols weekend and sunny so it was busy and we had an hourly wait for each ride, but that was just perfect for me – I had enough time to get used to the idea that I was actually going through with this, got a chance to look at the ride itself, what the people who came off the ride looked like.

And rhen we got onto the ride and it puts you into horizontal position and I started screaming and crying my eyes out like on cue — before we even left the station LOL that served for an epic picture. But I had done it!!!! It wasn’t a great ride, I didn’t enjoy it because I was busy crying and screaming but I HAD FREAKING DONE IT!!!

Went straight to Nemesis after, again with an hour wait which again was perfect. And this one, I actually managed to keep my eyes open whilst one the ride and even a FUCK YEAH escaped my mouth haha. Weird who I went from crying about going on rollercoasters to enjoying it in such a short time.

Next up was Rita and this one, I actually fucking got giddy about. In case you dont know – Im a huge Formula One fan and so the prospect of being in a superfast ride was getting me all excited, thinking I’ll pretend to be Mika Hakkinen. And when we finally got on the ride, before it set off, I kept shouting Go Go Go Go haha. You shouldve seen Lodz’s face – totally awestruck knowing that only 3-4 hours before I was petrified.

Last but not least we went on Thirteen and this one scared me because I couldn’t see anything of the track but this one had a brilliant ending too.

Went to look at Oblivion and decided that I will never go on that one but I was tempted by the new ride Smiler – insane how they managed to get so much track and twists and turns and 2 cars onto the track in such small space.

What a day. It was absolutely amazing. I’m so so happy that I did this for myself and for Lodz. The next day, because we were near London, I even pressed for going to Thorpe Park haha

Off topic: Michael Steal is being investigated for paying his sister Monica Turner’s company for work she did for his Senate campaign…but the company had closed down 11 months earlier. The RNC is throwing him under the double dutch bus:www.washingtonpost.com

YEAH, I love my brain too…i suppose you already know that 1/2 cup of blueberries every day is supposed to be good for your memory?– now where did i store those Blueberries i just bought????cheers for now.pj

That cape is lovely. Forest City Fashionista is right, it's definitely more 60's than 60! Looks great on you. I don't think there's a problem with sensing spirits as long as they're benign, as yours obviously are. It just adds to the character of the house. I shall be watching Montalbano tonight too. He's taken over from Wallender as my new obsession. I am so fickle! Have a great weekend x

I live quite close to Alton Towers and have only been 3 times (all in my adult life) I’m not scared of the rides but I’m a puker. The last time I went I just went on ‘Squirrel Nutty’ the kids ride ‘for a laugh’ and puked. Fun.

Oh my god that was so gross. By the way my husband is your hand ganglian cyst twin. I diagnosed it by way of Nanny Goats in Panties, which is highly scientifical and recommended by four out of five dentists who chew Trident. Smiles,Lisa

We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your website offered us with valuable information to work on. You have done an impressive job and our whole community will be thankful to you.